


Through the Hands of Time

by RabbitsAreAwesome



Series: whumptober 2020 [4]
Category: Fire Emblem Series, Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Angst, Blood and Injury, Canon-Typical Violence, Character Death, Gen, Hopeful Ending, Major Character Injury, Whumptober 2020, Wibbly Wobbly Timey Wimey... Stuff, byleth messes with time, final battle but angsty, i would't say happy ending but..., no beta we die like Glenn, running out of time, takes place at the end of Azure Moon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-05
Updated: 2020-10-05
Packaged: 2021-03-07 18:28:48
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,146
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26832199
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RabbitsAreAwesome/pseuds/RabbitsAreAwesome
Summary: It was the twelfth time. The twelfth time and Byleth knew, somewhere deep down they knew they only had one more chance. They had one more chance to rewind time. They couldn’t use it. No matter what happened, they had to see this fight to the end. They needed to know what awaited in the fight with the beast wearing Edelgard’s face. They had to know. In order to prepare for what is ahead, before they took that last jump in time, they needed to know everything.It was this resolve that pushed Byleth passed every life lost.
Relationships: Blue Lions Students & My Unit | Byleth, Dimitri Alexandre Blaiddyd & My Unit | Byleth, Edelgard von Hresvelg & My Unit | Byleth, My Unit | Byleth & Claude von Riegan
Series: whumptober 2020 [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1950856
Kudos: 4
Collections: Whumptober 2020





	Through the Hands of Time

It was time. It was the final decisive battle that would choose the fate of Fodlan. Byleth stood beside Dimitri as he rallied his troops and began to infiltrate the fortress-like palace. The room was large and walls blocking the view, it was hard to tell just how many of Edelgard’s men resided here. But they had no choice but to push on. Edelgard made sure of that. 

Byleth ordered the troops to split into three groups. The left side would be led by Ingrid, Felix and Ashe. Right side was left in the hands of Gilbert, Cyril, and Annette. Frontline would be led by Sylvain, Dedue, Dimitri and Byleth themself. Rear guards would be Seteth, Flayn and Mercedes. Each group had only a few orders, trust each other, watch each other’s back, route the enemy, and survive. 

Byleth knew they couldn’t possibly watch over every inch of this expansive battleground, so they had to trust in their students, well, former students now. It was hard to know that the damaged but happy kids had grown to know such bloodshed. Byleth was going to do everything in their power to keep them alive so that they may live in a world of peace. 

With the orders given Dimitri ordered the start of the battle. The left and right sides split from the main group and began to engage their enemies. The frontline split to handle the two different entry ways. Byleth and Sylvain took right, while Dimitri and Dedue took left. 

It was only moments after that the sounds of battle rang out in the expansive halls. 

Byleth could only focus on their own battles from there on. The sheer number of troops Edelgard had stationed should have been impossible. The large palace felt cramped. Everyone battling around friend and foe alike. Byleth slashed through the body of a grappler when a roar shook the very walls of the stone palace. The earth shook with the force of something large moving about. 

Whatever was happening on the left and right sides of the battle Byleth did not know. They just hoped everyone would make it alright. As the frontline group pushed forward there was a sudden cry that pierced their ears. A member of Gilbert’s battalion came running from the rear.

“Report!” Sylvain barked. 

It seemed he too realized just how important it was to see a man so shaken up leave the battle he must have just come from to find them. 

“It’s Sir Gilbert! He’s fallen! And General Cyril is taking immense damage from a demonic beast!” 

“What!?” The shock at receiving such news distracted Sylvain enough that he took a powerful blast of magic from a dark mage. 

He was alive but gravely injured. 

Byleth knew that if Gilbert was defeated and Cyril was taking damage that only left Annette unaccounted for.

“What about Annette?” Byleth asked the man. 

“She’s fighting a powerful dark mage. I’ve never seen magic like it!” 

From across the hall a demonic beast burst through the double doors and in its’ great maw was a familiar grey haired man. His scream of pain was nearly as loud as the beast’s roar. 

Byleth activated their power. 

The felt the familiar pulse of a heart that didn’t actually beat. They watched as the area around them slowed down to a standstill. They saw the frozen shock and raw grief on Dedue’s face as he realized the fate that befell Ashe. They saw the raw anger that flashed on Dimitri’s face. They then felt the familiar hands of time rewind. 

It is a hard feeling to describe and Byleth isn’t too good with words. But the feeling of time rewinding was much like looking at a waterfall, but instead of the water flowing downward if flowed upward, and you were the boat following the flow, looking down but moving up. 

Byleth felt the hands begin to move again. 

They were right back at the start. The planning phase. 

This time Byleth sent Ingrid, Ashe and Cyril right. Left went to Annette, Gilbert, and Felix. Frontline and rear remained the same. WIth that plan in motion all began anew. 

The army charged collectively to their respective sides and all began again. 

And again. 

And again. 

And again. 

  
And again. 

And again. 

And againagain _againagain._

_And again._

Byleth felt a deep and unfamiliar exhaustion pull at them. It felt like they were wading through sludge so deep that moving their legs felt impossible. 

The very act of standing was a feat. 

But there was no time for that. They had to get this right. They _had_ too. There weren’t enough chances to fix everything. This had to be the one. 

It took eleven attempts for Byleth to get everyone just past the first two sets of rooms so that they could reconvene behind the throne doors. 

The first time Gilbert was nearly completely obliterated by unknown dark magic and Ashe was torn apart by a demonic beast. 

The second time Annette was pummeled to death and Felix went into a rage that cost him his life as he rained magic attacks across any who crossed his path. Ingrid was gravely injured after the demonic beast caused part of the stone wall to collapse, trapping her under it.

The third time on the right side, Dedue was blasted apart by magic and Ashe and Annette were left injured after dealing with the beast only to be overrun by close combat fighters. Not even Annette with her mobile wyvern and the Hero’s Relic Crusher could get the two out of it.

The fourth time, it was Sylvain having his spin snapped by the demonic beast on the left that caused the combined forces of Felix and Ingrid to become nothing more than a tempest of death and destruction, a whirlwind of fury. On the right, the battle grew to be one of attrition, neither side made any gains but enough damage was dealt that by the time the rear healers were able to reach the injured it was too late. 

The fifth time it took a hit and run strategy to clear the way of the more powerful mages that were the greatest threat to the blue lions. It was once the few dark mages in the first two sets of rooms on the left and right side were defeated that the forces could sweep through. It wasn’t until another roar caused the hairs on Byleth’s neck to rise. There was another beast. There was _another beast_ on the right side. 

The sixth time that Byleth lost, was when Dimitri and herself had finally managed to clear the center and the sides were doing as well as they could when reinforcements from the lower levels forced their way straight to their healers. Byleth did not wait to see the end of that skirmish before rewinding time. They don’t think they could stand to see Mercedes covered in blood with dull eyes.

The seventh time was just cruel. They had barely managed to scrape by when a blast of magic blew threw the throne room doors and destroyed the statue in the center room. The resounding blast shocked everyone and even Byleth remained frozen as Annette swooped in to protect Mercedes. The debris pinned the two down. The impact killed Annette and the crushing weight of wyvern and rider crushed Mercedes.

The eighth time, the whole plan collapsed in an instant as Ashe in another hit and run strategy was eliminated by the mage he engaged as the rear guard was overwhelmed by reinforcements and Mercedes could not get to him in time. After that the dark mage picked off the blue lions one by one. 

The ninth time Byleth tried to keep their forces on the left, the least dangerous side. The stayed center middle and in the left corridors. But even that plan failed as the combined might of the two demonic beasts came crashing in bringing the entire roof above their heads crashing down. The professor refuses to dwell on what would have become of them all if they were too slow to rewind time before they too were crushed. 

The tenth time, Byleth tried to lead an assault straight to Edelgard with speed over everything else. It wasn’t until they were in the room that they realized just to what extent Edelgard was willing to go to see her dreams to fruition. She had become the very monster that she despised. The magic she unleashed was brutal and separated from their healer, the mounted units she brought with her, Ashe, and Sylvain were quickly felled. 

The eleventh time they tried something similar. They tried to clear the center quickly and prevent reinforcements from coming through before rushing to the right side to try to alleviate some of the pressure there but even still, someone, _someone always died._

_Someone died and their blood would stain the floors and the walls and their body crushed to dust or so unrecognizable it was only due to their clothes that the blue lions even knew who they were. The faces of devastation and terror and horror that would cross every single one of their students destroyed the professor each and every time. It is in the moment of losing someone that the former students would learn that war would not be kind even to the victors. It would be the moment they realized that their victory would not come without great loss. It was those moments that the generals leading their battalions and fighting and grieving realized that they would have to live a world of peace and that their dear friend wouldn’t get to live it with them._

It was the twelfth time. The twelfth time and Byleth knew, somewhere deep down they knew they only had one more chance. They had one more chance to rewind time. They couldn’t use it. No matter what happened, they had to see this fight to the end. They needed to know what awaited in the fight with the beast wearing Edelgard’s face. They had to know. In order to prepare for what is ahead, before they took that last jump in time, they needed to know everything. 

It was this resolve that pushed Byleth passed every life lost. 

Ashe lost to a grappler that got too close. His face and chest punched until it cave, blood covering his once gentle smile. 

Annette, crushed in the jaws of a demonic beast. Her body, torn to shreds by the sharp teeth and talons.

Felix surrounded by too many foes, he downed as many as he could before being completely overtaken. 

Sylvain fell reaching out his hand for a friend that couldn’t reach it. A blast of dark magic caused spikes to burst to the ground and impale him. 

Ingrid, having taken to the skies long ago, swooped in to finish a beast of her own only for a thrown axe to take her horse, and she fell from the sky and landed against the cold stone. 

Cyril and Seteth having finished off the beast that felled Annette moved on to the second. Cyril was slammed into the walls, his body leaving a trail as it was dragged down to earth. Seteth had taken an arrow to the heart. Flayn alone was unable to keep up the healing and she too fell after staring in shock at her brother’s, no father’s corpse. 

Gilbert and Dedue, while highly armored they fell to the masked mages as none were left who could oppose their might and distance. 

All that left was Mercedes, Dimitri, and Byleth. 

The three pushed through ignoring their injuries, trusting Mercedes to heal them even as those they cared about perished. They pushed through to the throne room and began to tear through any enemy standing in their way. 

Mercedes cried out as a blast from Edelgard snuffed her life. 

Dimitri and Byleth stood before Edelgard. The three engaged in fierce combat. Dimitri and Byleth never let up their never ending assault. Dimitri would close any distance between himself and Edelgard while Byleth ensured that any openings created by Dimitri were immediately covered by their extending sword. 

It was the final blow that Dimitri struck on Edelgard that ended it. The demonic power that fueled Edelgard’s monstrous form dissipated until the Empress herself remained. She was on her knees, her head held low. Dimitri reached out his hand, and she took it. 

Her small almost delicate looking hand reached out and grabbed his hand. She stood on shaking knees. And then Dimitri stumbled back. A familiar looking dagger jammed in his throat. 

Without his weight holding her up, Edelgard fell to her knees once more. Dimitri collapsed. Byleth rushed towards him. They weren’t a healer. They knew their magic couldn’t fix this. They were going to lose him too. 

Dimitri looked at Byleth’s eyes. He grabbed their hand and smiled. His one good eye closed and his hand went limp. 

An uncontrollable rage built up in Byleth. It was as if their very blood was boiling just beneath their skin. 

_This cannot be fate!_

They wanted to scream and to shout but instead, they stood, they stood and walked to Edelgard.

“If I shall fall…” 

Edelgard began. 

“Let it be by your hand.” 

Byleth raised the Sword of the Creator high. 

“I wanted to walk with you…” 

“You took everything that I loved.” 

And they brought their sword down. 

Byleth turned away from the fallen Empress and collapsed next to Dimitri. The tears began to fall. 

_“To think that the first time I saw you cry, your tears would be for me…”_

_“If not even the power of time could stop his death, it must have been fate.”_

_This could not be fate. No, it couldn’t be. Losing everything. It couldn’t be so. I couldn’t be true. I… I won’t let it be true. No matter how many times I restarted and reset this battle it wasn’t enough. IT WASN’T ENOUGH! I WON’T LET THEM DIE LIKE THIS! THERE WILL BE PEACE AND THEY WILL LIVE TO SEE IT THEY ALL WILL!_

Regardless of how little Byleth knew of Edelgard, they had a feeling deep down that maybe, just maybe there could have been peace. There could’ve been a world that maybe if they just reached out their hands to one another, something Claude once shared with them, that maybe, just maybe all three of them could have made it. Byleth did not want to fight any of them but did so out of necessity. Maybe there could be a way to keep it all from happening. Maybe there was a way to ensure that every bright and hopeful light that walked into the Monastery could have seen a bright new world. 

_“What do you mean by maybe? Don’t you remember, you have one more Pulse left. Use it for something instead of just wallowing in self-pity. Geez, and here I thought I taught you better.”_

_Take me back. To where it all began! Take me back!_

It was as if a dam had been unleashed within Byleth. The rushing flow of water swept through them and time seemed to stretch and shrink and spin all at once. Byleth closed their eyes as the onslaught hit them. 

* * *

Byleth opened their eyes and only to meet a strange green-haired girl sitting upon a stone throne. A feeling of longing and familiarity shot through them. They conversed and after telling the strange girl their name and birthday did the conversation come to an end.

“Hmm. It all feels so… familiar. I think it may be time for yet another nap.

It is almost… time to… begin… "

* * *

“Hey time to wake up.” 

Byleth heard a familiar voice reach past the fog of sleep. Upon meeting with their father after having been awakened a feeling of intense sadness swept through them threatening to bring tears to their eyes. They were glad that their father did not notice, for Byleth would not know how to explain these strange sensations. 

“Were you having that dream again?”

“I was dreaming about a war…” 

“Massive armies clashing on a vast field, right? There hasn’t been a battle like that in over three centuries… 

In any case, just put that out of your mind for now. The battlefield is no place for idle thought. 

Risking your life is part of the job for mercenaries like us. Letting your mind wander is a sure way to get yourself killed. 

Ok, time to get moving. Our next job is in the Kingdom. 

I told you before it. It’s far from here, so we’ll need to leave at dawn. “ 

“Of course” 

There was something off about what Byleth’s father said, but they felt so out of it that they couldn’t put their finger on it. It just seemed… wrong, somehow.

“Hm? Good grief. Everyone is already waiting for us outside.” 

“Jeralt! Sir! Sorry to barge in, but your presence is needed.” One of the mercenaries barged in. 

“What’s happened?”

“Please forgive our intrusion. We wouldn’t bother you were the situation not dire.” A tall blonde boy wearing dark grey armor and donning a blue cape said. His blue eyes gleaming with sincerity. 

“What do a bunch of kids want at this hour?”

There were three children standing outside. The tall blonde who started the conversation was standing in the middle. To the left was a dark skinned boy with dark hair styled wildly and with a single braid. He wore a yellow cape. To the right of the blonde was a small fair skinned girl with white flowing hair and violet eyes. She had a red cape. 

“We’re being pursued by a group of bandits. I can only hope that you will be so kind as to lend your support.” The blonde continued. 

“Bandits here?” Their father asked. 

“It’s true. They attacked us while we were at rest in our camp.” The white haired girl answered. 

“We’ve been separated from our companions and we’re outnumbered. They’re after our lives… not to mention our gold.” The darked haired boy finished. 

“I’m impressed you’re staying so calm considering the situation. I… Wait. That uniform…” 

“Bandits spotted just outside the village! Damn… There are a lot of them.” A scout informed Jeralt.

“I guess they followed you all the way here. We can’t abandon this village now.

Come one let’s move. Hope you’re ready.” And with that Jeralt left to prepare the men leaving Byleth a single moment alone. 

They looked at all three of the children standing before them. 

There was another strange feeling welling up inside of them. 

For reasons unknown, Byleth wanted to hold the three of them and never let them go. 

Byleth wanted the three of them to stand by them, and watch a new dawn rise over Fodlan. 

**Author's Note:**

> This is day four of whumptober. I have been enjoying this ride so far. This Byleth centered fic is sorta based on my first run through of the game which was the blue lions. Without divine pulse I know I would've lost some units, just not to the extent that this fic portrays the final battle. I really hope you all enjoy the fic and I will continue this thirty one day journey.


End file.
